Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is officially a top 10 quarterback in the NFL, according to the people who actually watch film for a living. ESPN polled over 70 coaches, executives, and scouts for its annual player rankings, and Williams landed at No. 10 on the QB list. That put him ahead of reigning Super Bowl winner Sam Darnold, Green Bay’s Jordan Love, Washington’s Jayden Daniels, and San Francisco’s Brock Purdy among others.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler wrote that Williams, Darnold, Love, and Daniels were “very close” in the voting. It came down to tiebreakers, and the deciding factor was this: the league considers Williams the “hardest of the four for teams to prepare for and defend.”
One general manager said, “He’s the most dynamic of the group. He’s got the arm talent and overall athleticism suited for today’s game.” A personnel evaluator called Williams a “closer.” And one detractor, who compared him favorably to Patrick Mahomes, said Williams can be “wildly erratic” — which honestly tracks for a young QB who makes something out of nothing on a regular basis.
Rookie season went sideways before it turned around
Williams was the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, and he was not exactly thrilled about going to Chicago. That hesitation got validated fast. Head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron were both fired midseason. The Bears looked like a mess.
But under first-year head coach Ben Johnson — the same guy who helped Jared Goff resurrect his career in Detroit — Williams settled in. He threw for nearly 4,000 yards, 27 touchdowns, and just 7 interceptions. The Bears won their first NFC North title in seven years and their first playoff game in 15 seasons. That is a legit turnaround.
History says pump the brakes
Williams, Johnson, and the Bears are going to carry heavy expectations into this season. And the franchise has a brutal pattern going. Each of the last three times Chicago won a division title, they followed it up with a losing record and zero playoff appearances the next year.
So the talent is clearly there. The coaching is in place. But the Bears have to prove they can sustain success instead of just flashing it one season and crashing the next.
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